I consider this to be better than Hamlet, way better than Romeo and Juliet as far as the story is considered. The true nature of mankind is deeply explored in this highly dramatic play made this a true masterpiece.

  Not as good as Othello, Romeo and Juliet, or Hamlet, it still packs a punch as a guy whose wife helps him to knock off the current Scottish king so he could get the throne.

The part of the play where Lady Macbeth dreams she's wringing her hands of blood is priceless.

Those were some rather interesting ingredients those girls used.

By the pricking of my thumbs, some Great Literature this way comes."

Today is August 15. On this day in history, in 1040, MacBeth killed King Duncan I. Duncan was a king of one of the early Scottish kingdoms and MacBeth was a high noble.

The Shakespeare play is great drama but of little historical accuracy. Duncan was much younger than in the play.

The mists of time swirl around early Scots history, and we sometimes see it clearly and the view sometimes is obscured.

That is part of the case here. For various reasons, immaterial to this posting, King Duncan invaded MacBeth's domain and was killed in a skirmish by MacBeth rather than in his sleep as Shakespeare would tell us.

The act occurred August 15, 1040, at Pitgaveny near Elgin, Scotland.

I have had the pleasure of being in two prductions of Macbeth. Those who consider it a bore, lesser work, or something short of greatness are sadly blind! I have always held the opinion that Hamlet is his greatest character study, Othello, his greatest drama, King Lear his greatest work, and Macbeth his greatest play! For sheer theatricality it surpasses all. You've got magic, murder, madness, and meayhem and about the most interesting relationship that ever existed. The whole thing, to borrow from A.C. Bradley, is "tremendous" in the extreme! Anyone who misses this, again, is not looking with a theatrical eye!!! It boggles in its spectacle of a man willing to destroy for the accomplishment of nothing his very soul. I've committed in my own small way the other tragic heroes' mistakes. At least every time I read or watch Macbeth I can rest assured I have never even come close to that! Shakespeare must have shuttered at least once over what he had written.

Lady Macbeth is still one of the most fascinating characters in Western Lit. for me. It's billy shakes shortest tragedy (not killing his actors with long performances?) and one of his finest.

A marvellous play, better seen than read.

One of the Bard's greatest plays, whoever that Bard really was. Dark, spare, brief, yet a chilling view of ambition and its capacity to corrupt. Nothing Fancy Dan about this one, with the most brutal-sounding language in any play of the Shakespearian canon. Maybe some of the posters on this page should grow up a little, experience more in life and read more widely before they condemn major works of literature as "boring." Yeah, Shakepeare's been boring readers for hundreds of years, boring the countless millions who still come out to see his plays, boring the people who pay to see movies based on his plays, boring the people who speak a language that is heavily sprinkled with the sayings, turns of phases and expressions he coined. It's interesting that well-educated, cultured and sophisticated people don't find Shakepeare boring at all, yet ill-educated, immature, crude, unsophisticated louts can't sit still long enough to savor the man's greatness.

Fraud.

Macbeth has although a good plot, a terrible storyline. The charaters lack realism. I don't reccomend this to anyone who hasn't already had the misfortune of coming across it. I wil give it credit for the good plot thought, which made for an interesting read.

Oh, Lord, how I hate to enrage all you Bard-huggers out there (see my comments on Shakespeare himself in the Authors section), but God, was this a bore. I admit, I was forced to read it in high school English a few months ago, and I enjoy books more when I can read them at my own pace. And when I sat back and thought about the plot, I realized that it had much insight into human nature, but I still don't much care for it. Fortuneatley, I was sick a couple of the days we were reading it in class, so I missed some of this drivel. On the other hand, I'm only 15. BUT..I'm one of those endangered species, a precocious, therefore intelligent, teenager, if I do say so myself. I READ for pleasure, I don't sit on my butt laughing at Beavis and Butthead. But as I said, I'm only 15. Perhaps I'll appreciate Shakespeare more in 20 or 30 years. But in the meantime, I do indeed LOVE great literature, but this overrated pound o' (excremental) flesh does not qualify as great literature. Sorry, Bard-huggers, but I'm expressing my personal opinion as a free citizen of this country.

The perfect introduction to Shakespeare,and if there's one play to suit a dark,wild,stormy, windswept night,this must be it:the 3 witches (and their bubbling cauldron), scheming skulduggery,murder most foul,ghosts and castles,a villainous sleepwalker,a moving forest..and of course so many memorable lines.One of the immortal bard's great tragedies, terrifically atmospheric and a thoroughly entertaining read.